1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a spoiler for wings, in particular plane wings, which spoiler is unfoldable during the landing and take-off of the plane or the like and retractable during cruising.
Although, in the following, the use of the spoiler according to the invention is exclusively discussed in connection with the wings of airplanes, its application theoretically is conceivable also with other types of aircraft and other vehicles such as, for instance, high-speed ships or high-speed cars.
The term spoiler serves to denote a deflector provided on the rear upper side of a wing, which, on the one hand, serves as an air brake during landing and, on the other hand, also assists the aileron by asymmetrical use. The English term "spoiler" goes back to the fact that it creates a resistance, thereby annihilating part of the lift.
2. Prior Art
CH 683 982 A5 describes a device for increasing the lift on a plane wing in the form of an air-conducting element, which also may serve as a spoiler after landing.
In order to enable the progressive movement of a plane or the like in the air, a force must act on the same in a sense opposite to the force of gravity. This is obtained through the lift generated by the airfoils or wings of the plane. By appropriately configuring the sections of the wings, the air resistance to the lift is minimized. During the landing of a plane, and in order to reduce the landing run, a reduction of the lift is required. To this end, so-called spoilers or deflectors/air brakes are provided on the surfaces of the wings, which are extended during and after landing thus generating a resistance.
In order to cope with the air traffic, airplanes that become larger and larger are being built for accommodating an increasing number of passengers and loads. Larger and heavier planes have higher landing weights. Hence, a higher landing speed is required for such planes, whereby the landing flaps are placed more steeply than with smaller and lighter planes during landing in order to achieve as high an annihilation of the lift as possible. The particularly steep arrangement of the landing flaps during the landing of the plane causes quite a large gap to be formed between the trailing edge of the spoiler and the surface of the landing flap, which gap brings about undesired aerodynamic effects.